Food Fraud Abounds; Olive Oil Shortage Looms

Denny's will launch its first national value menu on Saturday, dubbed the "$2 $4 $6 $8 Value Menu." It features 16 items, including biscuits and gravy with hash browns or an egg, and lemon-pepper chicken with two sides, bread, and a drink. [Nation's Restaurant News]

Food fraud is more common than you think. Cow's milk cheese has been passed off as sheep, Mississippi paddlefish as Sturgeon caviar, and corn syrup-diluted honey as pure.
[Washington Post]

The oil crisis is real -- the olive oil crisis, that is. Climate change will soon wipe out groves in the Mediterranean, and warming Russia will take over as a lead producer.
[Economist]

In 1999, a San Francisco restaurant offered patrons free lunches for life if they got a tattoo of its logo. Thousands of free meals later, most customers got sick of a daily burrito.
[Wall Street Journal]

Easter is upon us, as are the annual chocolate studies. German researchers have found that people who ate an average of 7.5 grams a day had lower blood pressure.
[NY Daily News]

People with higher intakes of vitamin K may be less likely to develop cancer. Vitamin K exists largely in green leafy vegetables, some vegetable oils, and meat and cheese.
[Reuters]

A Park Slope woman is suing Williams-Sonoma for $2 million after a serving tray she was using to make nachos allegedly broke in her hand, slicing off the end of her left ring finger.
[NY Post]